I found the John Deere part a bit out of place myself, because while the issue is still important, it is different.

If anyone on here every watch any episodes of Mayberry R.F.D., there's a recurring character that owns his own repair shop that fixes small appliances of all kinds. I remember the first time I saw that and thought how cool of an idea a shop like that was and disappointed by the idea that we don't have those kinds of shops today because of our throw away items. It's really cool that these guys are bringing the idea back and hopefully it catches on.

Along a similar line, the whole concept might be a partial solution to China no longer wanting to process and recycle western countries' electronic waste. If we have less places willing to recylce our stuff, that's might give governments the incentive to pressure manufacturers to make things A) more durable and B) easier to repair. For a small example, I'd love to see cell phone manufacturers walk back from having sealed units, where people can't even easily replace batteries.